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If you or your DH or other family member in the military, what is your/their rank and time in?

I'm just curious as to the average rank vs time served. I ask because several people that DH joined with are of lower rank. DH has been in five years and will be an E6 in May (was approved months ago for another EP, but isn't eligible to become E6 until then) Just wondering what's "normal", even though I understand the multitude of factors that play into it.

I made E-4 in 1 and got out a year later. My hubby got to E-6 by about 5 but the next step to E-7 is much harder in his rate. So he has been an E-6 for about 6 years now. It really is dependent on branch and rate within that branch.

I am in the Air Force. I had my 17 year anniversary on 14 Sep 12 and have held the rank of E-6 for 5 years and will be putting E-7 on in December. I made E-5 super fast but took a long time to make E-6, which you hear a lot.

My husband was in for 3 1/2 AD and left as a Corporal. They wanted to make him a Sgt but only if he reenlisted for AD. He didn't want to do that. He then spent a year on IRR before he was called back. After his 6th or 7th month back in, they promoted him to Sgt. After his deployment, he went into the Reserves and stayed a Sgt. and got out after 8 years of total service. There are many factors to consider. Sometimes when a soldier is up for promotion it can be around the time for them to PCS. Many units don't want to promote someone only to lose them. Once they get to their new duty station, they have to prove themselves all over again before being promoted. The fastest promotion I have ever seen was our neighbor in Germany. He had only been in for 7 years and was already a staff sgt. and was soon promoted to SFC.

Depends on the branch you are in. For Air Force, that's next to impossible because of the way they have it set up. My husband will have been in 11 years come the end of this January, and he made E6 upon his 10th year, which is highly unheard of in the USAF, again. His aunt retired as an E6 at 20 years, if that tells you anything. His best friend is currently an E7, and to keep that rank, stayed in an extra couple years, so he's past his 20 year mark.

Once you've made E4, you can test for E5 and hope like hell you score high enough and there's enough slots open for you to make it. If you don't, you continue testing each year. If you do, then once you've pinned on that rank, you have to wait another 2 years before you can even test for the next rank. My husband made E5 on his 2nd or 3rd test and E6 on his 2nd test.